NOV. 25, 2015 UPDATE: Nicholas Garcia pleaded guilty today to causing the death of his neighbor’s Pit Bull with a firecracker, the Herald-News reports. He was sentenced to three years in prison on a charge of criminal damage to property (not animal cruelty). He must then serve an additional year for reckless discharge of a firearm. He will be eligible for parole in August 2017.
The morning of July 7, Nicholas Garcia and a buddy had nothing useful to do with their lives, so they lit illegal firecrackers in a Joliet, Ill., alley.
When Garcia noticed a Pit Bull outside of a neighbor’s yard, he started throwing the firecrackers at him, Deputy Police Chief Ed Gregory told the Times Weekly.
As the neighbors watched in horror, their Pit Bull picked up one of the firecrackers in his mouth.
“It blew off the animal’s jaw,” Gregory told the Herald-News. The dog had to be euthanized.
On his Facebook page, Garcia didn’t express a whole lot of remorse about killing the dog, according to the Joliet Patch.
“Lightin off the rest of my fireworks n the rerarded neighbors that dont know how to put their dog on leash or keep it fenced in decides to chase a boom stick and lost its head…..NOW they care about their dog,” the loser wrote. His page has since been removed.
After being wanted on a $50,000 warrant — not for animal cruelty, but for felony damage to property and two misdemeanor counts — Garcia finally turned himself in yesterday.
Gregory told the Herald-News the case will be reviewed by the Will County state’s attorney’s office to see if felony aggravated animal cruelty charges can be filed against Garcia. If they can, the dog killer could face between three and six years in prison.
An online petition urging Garcia to be charged with animal cruelty has nearly 70,000 signatures as of Saturday morning. (Warning: There is a gruesome photo of the injured Pit Bull.)
Photos via Patch.com
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